Today, people often switch between devices while shopping online. They may look at a product on their laptop, come back to it on their phone later, and then complete the purchase on yet another device.
A study by Barilliance, Cart Abandonment in the Cross Device Era, analysed more than 98,000 shopping sessions and found that 41% of smartphone purchases started on another device. This gives a good indication of how often customers move between devices during the buying process.
Link: Cross device shopping cart abandonment study
The difficulty is that the experience does not always follow the customer. A shopper may add an item to their basket on the website, then open the mobile app later in the day and find no trace of it. Few people will search for the same product twice. The extra effort is enough for interest to fade, and the visit ends without a purchase.
Much of this is avoidable. Retailers already hold a record of what the customer was doing on the earlier device: the pages they viewed, and the items they left behind in the basket. That record can be used to resume the journey wherever the customer next returns, instead of sending them back to the homepage to begin again. This article examines how an abandoned shopping journey can be recovered when a customer comes back on a different device.
Why Cross-Device Journey Continuation Matters
A connected customer journey can create value beyond simply helping a customer complete a purchase. It gives businesses an opportunity to respond to customer behaviour at the right time, rather than relying on generic messages or promotions.
For example, a customer who has already shown interest in a particular product is more likely to respond to a relevant reminder than a general offer. Understanding this behaviour can also help businesses make their digital experiences more relevant and reduce unnecessary steps for the customer.
Modern customers expect brands to remember their interactions regardless of the device they use. A disconnected experience often leads to frustration and lost revenue.
Benefits of cross-device journey continuation include:
Reduced Cart Abandonment: Encourage customers to resume incomplete purchases instead of starting over.
Seamless Customer Experience: Maintain continuity between website and mobile application.
Higher Conversion Rates: Reduce purchase friction by directing users straight back to their shopping cart.
Better Customer Engagement: Deliver relevant messaging based on real-time behavioral data instead of generic promotions.
Use Case Demo
Use Case
Consider the following customer journey:
Customer starts a purchase journey on the Arena Telecom website and abandons the cart before checkout.
Tealium AudienceStream identifies the customer as a Cart Abandoner.
When the customer logs into the mobile application, Moments API retrieves the customer’s profile and abandoned journey details.
Adobe Target delivers a personalized recommendation based on the customer’s previous activity.
The mobile app displays a prompt allowing the customer to seamlessly continue the purchase journey.
This creates a seamless cross-device experience without requiring the customer to manually search for the product again
Use Case Configuration
The solution consists of four key components:
1. Customer Behaviour Collection
Customer interactions on the Arena Telecom website are captured through Tealium. Key visitor attributes such as customer identity, product information, and visitor ID are used to build a unified customer profile.
When a customer abandons a cart, AudienceStream identifies the visitor as a Cart Abandoner audience.
2. AudienceStream & Visitor Stitching
A Cart Abandoner audience is created based on:
Authenticated customer
Product added to cart
Purchase not completed
AudienceStream visitor stitching enables the same customer profile to be recognized when the customer later logs into the mobile application.
3. Context API & Adobe Target Personalization
When the customer opens the mobile application, Moments API retrieves the customer’s profile and verifies their Cart Abandoner status.
For eligible customers, Adobe Target Recommendations uses the abandoned product context to deliver a personalized experience.
Adobe Target Configuration:
Collection: All Arena Telecom Products
Criteria: New Arena Recently Viewed
Design: Cross Device Test
4. Mobile Application Experience
The personalized recommendation is delivered to the mobile application through Tealium Remote Commands.
The app displays a prompt encouraging the customer to continue their purchase. Selecting the CTA redirects the customer directly to their cart, allowing them to resume the journey seamlessly.
Conclusion
Customers increasingly move between devices before completing a purchase, making cross-device continuity an essential part of modern digital experiences. By combining Tealium AudienceStream, Moments API, and Adobe Target Recommendations, businesses can reconnect customers with their abandoned shopping journeys in real time.
This proof of concept demonstrates how behavioral data collected on the website can be stitched to the same customer profile and activated when they authenticate in the mobile application. Rather than asking customers to restart their journey, the solution presents a personalized prompt that allows them to seamlessly continue where they left off.
The same architecture can be extended beyond cart abandonment to support additional omnichannel use cases such as wish list continuation, abandoned application recovery, personalized promotions, loyalty campaigns, and cross-device product recommendations, enabling brands to deliver more consistent and engaging customer experiences across every touchpoint.
Whether you’re troubleshooting data layer issues, validating tag deployments, or optimizing your Tealium iQ implementation, Dexata helps enterprise teams ensure accurate, reliable, and high-quality data collection. Get in touch to learn how we can help simplify debugging, improve data quality, and maximize the value of your analytics.
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About The Authors
Rohit
Results-driven MarTech Consultant with over 5 years of experience in digital analytics, data collection, and customer data activation. Skilled in Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Server-Side Tracking, CAPI, Tealium iQ, OneTrust, Consent Mode, and CDP implementations, with a strong focus on building reliable data ecosystems. Experienced in web and app tracking, reporting, and translating complex datasets into actionable insights that drive business growth, improve customer experiences, and support privacy-first marketing strategies
Karan
Detail-oriented MarTech & Digital Analytics Specialist specializing in Adobe Analytics, Tealium iQ, Tealium AudienceStream (CDP), and Medallia. Experienced in designing and maintaining scalable data collection frameworks, implementing end-to-end tracking solutions, and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of digital data. Adept at transforming customer interaction data into meaningful insights that support informed business decisions, improve digital performance, and strengthen customer engagement. Passionate about delivering reliable analytics solutions that empower organizations to make confident, data-backed decisions.
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